The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is the story of a young southern boy and his voyage down the Mississippi River accompanied by a runaway slave named Jim. Throughout the journey Huck and Jim face numerous obstacles and encounter a variety of interesting characters. These experiences help Huck to develop physically, intellectually, and most importantly, morally. Throughout the long expedition, readers can observe Huck’s transformation from an immature boy with poor values and ethics, to a matured young man with a moral conscience and a heightened sense of what is right and what is wrong despite what society says.
At the beginning of Huck’s moral journey, Huck is no more than a young boy just starting to develop his understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Huck has grown up under the conflicting influences of his abusive, drunk father, Pap, and his guardian, Widow Douglas. The Widow tries her best to educate and civilize Huck, whereas Huck’s father tries to drag Huck down and feels that a son shouldn’t be better than a father. Up to this point in Huck’s life, Huck has never had to think about what is right or wrong; he was always told by the Widow or Pap. Huck’s moral journey begins when Huck breaks free from the influences of the Widow and Pap, and is finally able to begin to decide for himself what is right and wrong as well as to develop his own moral conscience.
The first step taken in Huck’s moral journey occurs after Huck has escaped the cabin he was held captive in by Pap, and safely lands on Jackson’s Island. Upon his arrival Huck runs into Jim, Miss Watson’s slave who has run away. When Huck and Jim bump into each other, Huck’s first response is “I bet I was glad to see him.” (Twain, 41) This sign...
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This is the last crucial step in Huck’s moral journey. This event demonstrates Huck’s ability to overlook people’s shortcomings, and exhibit sympathy for people who appear to not deserve it. It is at this point that Huck finally sees just how corrupt and cruel the world really is.
After this, the book winds down to an end, as does Huck’s moral journey. The readers have observed how Huck has changed throughout his moral journey: Huck developed his own moral values, distinguished right from wrong in many precarious situations, allowing him to create his own perception of what is right, strayed from society’s rules, and became aware of the corruption of the human race. Looking back, these are drastic changes from the immature, sheltered boy Huck was at the beginning of his odyssey. At the end of his journey, Huck is an intelligent, strong, mature, young man.
Initially, religion is appealing to Huck when the Widow Douglas tries teaching him: "After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers; and I was in a sweat to find out all about him" (220). Salvation seems possible to Huck, but he prefers to go to the "bad place" instead of spending eternity with Miss Watson (221); also, he abandons the concept of morality as a result of Miss Watson imposing it upon him. "I couldn't see no advantage about [helping others]...so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it anymore, but just let it go" (226). Huck does not realize that he is not a selfish person, but resolves to sacrifice salvation instead of living selflessly simply because of the source and c...
Huck’s situation is so extreme (the mental and physical abuse from Pap) that he cannot take it anymore. He does what he thinks is best; Huck listens to heart rather than his conscience. In order to get away from Pap, Huck organizes an elaborate plan to arrange his own death and run away – both denounced by society - from the prison cell (cabin) and Pap. Huck, for the first time in his life, had felt what it is like to be free: “The sky looks ever so deep when you lay down on your back in the moonshine; I never knowed it before” (Twain 46).
Together, Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim head south along the Mississippi during one summer. During their adventures, Huck has trouble with his conscience—he knows Jim is a runaway, and that the socially correct thing to do would be to turn him in and get him sent back to his owner. However, whenever the opportunity to do so arises, Huck finds it impossible to do. Near the end of the book, when Huck is out meandering and Jim is still on the raft in the river, Jim is captured by an old man as a runaway and gets sold for $40. It is here, at this point, that Huck has his largest moral dilemma. Should he let Jim remain captured, as he is legally the property of Miss Watson, or should he rescue the true friend who has stayed steadfastly and unwaveringly by his side? Huck does not want to remain “wicked,” as he himself calls it, so he writes a letter to Miss Watson informing her that her slave is being held by a Mr. Phelps down south of Pikesville. He cannot, though, bring himself to send the letter. He winds up ripping the letter to shreds, with the comment, “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (p. 207). He is willing to sacrifice his soul, and do a deed he believes he will be damned for, to save Jim, the runaway slave. It takes a character of great moral strength to do what he did.
Huck has been raised in a high-class society where rules and morals are taught and enforced. He lives a very strict and proper life where honesty and adequacy is imposed. Huck being young minded and immature, often goes against these standards set for him, but are still very much a part of his decision-making ability and conscience. When faced to make a decision, Hucks head constantly runs through the morals he was taught. One of the major decisions Huck is faced with is keeping his word to Jim and accepting that Jim is a runaway. The society part of Hucks head automatically looks down upon it. Because Huck is shocked and surprised that Jim is a runaway and he is in his presence, reveals Hucks prejudice attitude that society has imposed on him. Huck is worried about what people will think of him and how society would react if they heard that Huck helped save a runaway slave. The unspoken rules th...
Upon arriving at Cairo, Huck must decide if he should go along with society and turn Jim in as a runaway slave, or keep his promise to his friend, and see him through to freedom. Huck feels guilty not turning Jim in when he hears him talking about hiring an abolitionist to steal his family. He does not think it is right to help take away slaves from people that he doesn 't even know. To turn Jim in for these reasons would be the influence of society on Huck. Huck 's decision on this matter marks another major step in Huck 's moral progression, because he decides not to turn in Jim on his own. This is the first time he makes a decision all on his own based on his own morality. They stop at Grangerford’s Farm, in Tennessee, after the raft is temporality destroyed. With Huck busy with the Grangerford family, Jim was able to rebuild the raft. Huck just met the Grangerfords, but fits right in immediately. He later feels that someone should take the time to write poetry about Emmeline Grangerford, recently deceased, since she always took the time to write about other people who died. He even tries to write the poetry himself, but it doesn 't turn out right. Then he also sees people shooting at each other makes him sick to his stomach. He sees it as an act against humanity and he simply cannot relate or understand how humans can treat each other in such an uncivil
Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain is about the great adventures that Huck finn has with his slave Jim on the Missouri River. The story tells not only about the adventures Huck has, but more of a deeper understanding of the society he lives in. Twain had Huck born into a low class society of white people; his father was a drunken bum and his mother was dead. He was adopted by the widow Douglas who tried to teach him morals, ethics, and manners that she thought fit in a civilized society. Huck never cared for these values and ran away to be free of them. During Huck’s adventure with Jim he unknowingly realized that he didn't agree with society’s values and could have his own assumptions and moral values. Twain uses this realization to show how the civilized and morally correct social values that was introduced to Huck was now the civilized and morally contradicting values.
When the middle of the novel comes around Huck begins to distinguish what is right and wrong in life and begins to mature and do the right thing. He shows this when he chooses not to partake in the scam that the King and the Duke are playing on the Wilks family. Instead he takes the money back from the King and Duke to hide it because he believes it is only fair to the family. "I'm letting him rob her of her money...I feel so ornery and low...I got to steal that money somehow; and I got to steal it some way that they wont suspicion I done it" (Twain 133) This shows that Huck is starting to see the line between games and real life.
Huck finds out that all of the bad things he did are coming back to haunt him. In chapter 31 when Jim gets sold for forty dollars, Huck realizes that “here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face and letting me know my wickedness was being watched all the time whilst from up there in heaven.'; It also scared Huck because all this karma, what comes around goes around, was happening to him.
Throughout the classic novel of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain we see a lot of moral development with the main character Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the story Huck’s friendships greatly influence his moral identity. Throughout the series of events that unfold upon our main character, Huck Finn, we see huge moral leaps in the way he thinks that are influenced by that friendships he makes on his journey. He starts the book as a young minded individual with no sense morals other than what has been impressed onto him and ends up as a self empowering individual. Through the friendships he makes with Tom Sawyer, Jim, and the Duke and King we see big moral leaps with Huck.
Huck writes a note to Miss Watson saying that Mr.Phelps has Jim. Huck feels he was washed clean of sin for the first time, but sat around and thought about their trip down the river and how much Jim cared for Huck. Huck says, "All right, then, I'll go to hell"-and tore it up (162). Huck feels bad for helping Jim escape because he knows that it is wrong, but in the end he decides to help because now he knows that Jim is human, and has emotions. He isn't property to be owned. This is the right decision, if Jim is sold back to Miss.Watson, then he would have been in a lot of trouble for this. This event is the climax of the story, Huck shows the moral side of him and follows what he thinks is right rather than what society says. He doesn't want to enter the civilized world, instead to wants to go West. Huck is ready to reject society and
...uck’s struggles are revealed through his conflicts with his morals and beliefs. This is shown through the conflicts with himself, other characters and society. Huck struggles with himself when he is trying to send a letter to the Widow Douglas about Jim where being. Huck contemplates but can only think of reason to tear the letter up. Also, Huck struggles with others because many characters influence Huck’s morals and beliefs. Jim has a big effect on Huck’s life because he changes Huck’s belief of Africans. Lastly, Huck struggles with the expectations that society has put on him. As Huck begins to have a change of heart, he gradually begins to decide between his morals and beliefs. Therefore, Huck faces moral dilemmas of being between the world's prejudice that he learned growing up, and the lessons Jim has taught him throughout the story about the evils of racism.
The passage then goes on to Huck deciding to steal the gold, hide it, and return the gold to the rightful owners: the daughters of Peter Wilks. The basic function of the passage in relationship with the plot is to show Huck and the development of his moral compass. This in turn helps him decide on what he has to do to protect the innocent orphans of Peter Wilks, whom have been nothing but courteous to the three of them imposters. The passage shows a growth in Huck’s intellectual capacity and the maturing of his moral code. Instead of only thinking of himself, Huck starts feeling bad by “letting that old reptle rob her of her money” (Twain 244).
...ore closely related to a bildungsroman than to a simple picaresque novel. Huck shows considerable development, both morally and psychologically. Through the people he meets, he gets a taste of many spectrums of society and morals. This is the very last line of the novel: “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” (AHF, 220). The last line clearly shows he is not the same little boy that he was at the beginning of the book. Because he has been there before, he is no longer ignorant of “there”. By choosing to make his own choices, Huck makes a steady path towards maturity not only of his morals, but of himself as well.
At the beginning of the tale, Huck struggles between becoming ?sivilized? and doing what he pleases. He doesn?t want to listen to the rules that the Widow Douglas and her sister force upon him, even though he knows the widow only wants what is best for him. Miss Watson pushes Huck away from society even more through the way she treats him. She teaches him religion in such a dreary way that when she speaks of heaven and hell, Huck would rather go to hell than be in heaven with her: ?And she told all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there?I couldn?t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn?t try for it? (12-13). Huck is taught a very different kind of morality by his father who believes ?it warn?t no harm to borrow things, if you was meaning to pay them back?? (70). He likes his father?s idea of morality better because he is not yet mature enough to fully understand right and wrong, although living with the widow...